The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-03-18

was welcome prize to them Ut was nc
death ~ sly she had 10 fsar, but wos~.
Now, IL ever. she must act decisively. Th
leader took his hand from her bride, a. IL (
place II on her.
"Yer powerful peart sort Of gal, an 9
purity ex a fawn. Yer mummy can ri
long without the medicine . little while
an"
He did not finish the scntAnce, for befor
his hand could touch her Rachal's whip Gu
deep vale across his face. and then 1t fol
10 savagely upon the mares flank that tn
high-spirited animal sprang forward as 1
shot from catapult, and was hundret
yards away before the rascals really com
pretended what had happened.
Onward sped the mettled brute, 20 mad
dened by the first cruel blow she had evel
received that she refused to obey the rein
but made her own way by and through suct
objects as she encountered. When she at las,
Gained down the road was clear and lonely
and Rachel began searching for indications
of favorable point Of approach to the rive,
that limited at bridge or ford. While en-.
gagged in this she heard voices approaching.
A moments listening to the minglink Of
tones convinced her that It was another
crowd of stragglers, and she obeyed her flrst
impulse, which was to leap her horse over q
low stone wall to her right Taking her head
again, the mare did not stop until she gal
loped down to the waters edge
"I'll accept this as lucky" said Rachel to
herself. 1.-THE ancients trusted more to their
horses instincts than their own perceptions in
times of danger, and III do the same I'll
cross here"
She urged the mare into the water. The
beast picked her way among the boulders on
the bottom successfully for few minutes
The water rose to Rnchel's feet, but that
seemed its greatest depth, and in few more
yards she would gain the opposite bank, when
suddenly the mare stepped upon slippery
steep, her feet went from under her instantly,
and steed and rider rolled in the sweeping
flood of ice cold water Rachel's first thought
was that she should surely drown, but hopo
came back as she caught O limb swinging
from tree on the bank. With this she held
her head above water until she could collect
herself little, and then with great difficulty
pulled herself up the muddy, slippery bank.
The weight of her soaked clothes added
greatly to the difficulty and fatigue, and she
lay for some time prone upon her face across
the burrows Of cotton field, before she could
stand erect. At last she was able to stand up,
and she relieved herself somewhat by taking
off her calico riding skirt and wringing the
water from it. Her marc had also gained the
bank near the same point she had, and stood
looking at her with world of wonder ut the
whole nights experience in her great brown
eyes
"Poor thing" said Rachel, alphabetically.
"This is only the beginning. Heaven knows
what we won't have to 60 through with be-
fore the sun rises ~
She tried to mount, but her watery gar
ments were too much for her agility, and
with the wet skirts lettering her limbs she
began toiling painfully over the spongy,
plowed ground, In search Of q stump or a
rock. She thought she saw many around her,
but on approaching ono after another found
they were only large cotton plants, with a
boil or two of ungathered cotton on them,
appearance. She prevented herself
from travelling in q circle by remembering
this aptitude of benighted travellers, and keep
ing her eye steadily fixed on distant camp
lire. When she at last came to the edge of
The field she had to lean against the fence for
some minutes before she could recover from |
ner fatigue sufficiently to climb upon 1t. |
While she sat for minute there she heard |
some cocks, at aneighboring farmhouse, crow
The turn Of night.
nave only begun the journey Now let every 7
nerve and muscle do its utmost"
She rode along the fence until she came to
vut{r1, 1oIi int, -,
he darkness to be another cotton field. but
proved to be worn-out one, long ago aban-
loned to the rank growing briars, which
lung to and tore her skirts, and scanned the
Mares delicate skin with bleeding burrows.
he finching brute pressed onward, in re-
ponse to her mistress encouragement, but
he progress was gr1evously slow.
Presently Rachel began to sec moving
cures a little way ahead of her, and hear
oices in command. She realized that she
vas approaching the forces moving to the at
ack on the Union right. There was some
hing grotesque, weird, even frightful in the
ounds and the aspect of the moving masses
nd figures, but she at last made out that
hey were batteries, regiments and mounted
zen. She decided that her best course was
) mingle with and move along with them,
ntil she could get chance to ride away in
dvance For hours, that seemed weeks, she
emained entangied in tho slow moving mass,
hose bewildering vagaries of motion were
5 trying to the endurance of her steed as
aey were e1aspcrating tn her own impa-
ence. Occasionally she caught glimpses OF
ne Union camp fires in the distance, that,
w and smoldcring. told of the waning night,
nd she would look anxiously over her left
BOULDER for hint of the coming of the
readed dawn. Her mare terrified her with
vmptorls of giving out
At last she saw an unmistakable silvery
reak in the eastern clouds. Half frantic she
roke suddenly out of the throng by an
brupt turn to the right, and lashing her
lare savagely galloped where graying in
le dense darkness showed an opening be-
veen two cedar thickets that led to the
icket fires, half mile away. The mares
oofs beat generously on the level limestone
DOR, which there frequently rises through h
le shallow soil and starves out the cedar. Il
= ~ 4